Inuit Sled Dogs in the
Baffin Region, 1950 to 1975

Summary

Inuit dogs (known in Inuktitut
as qimmit) were an integral part of Inuit life and survival in
the Baffin Region. Dogs played important practical roles in
transportation, hunting and, as a last resort, nutrition, but they
were also fully integrated into Inuit cultural life (family
structures, hunting, spiritual life, storytelling, boy-to-man
transition, etc.). Between 1950 and 1975, however, the number of
Inuit dogs in the Baffin Region declined dramatically. Five types of
events, overlapping in time and place, are discussed in this report.
The report explains changes in the role and number of Inuit dogs in
the Baffin Region. It also highlights events that clarify why Inuit
feel compelled to examine the history of their relationship with the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and other government agencies in
this period.

The first type of event concerns
a dramatic decline in the number of dogs in specific communities at
specific times due to contagious diseases. Distemper, hepatitis and
rabies affected dog populations in the Baffin Region regularly, so
Inuit were accustomed to killing sick dogs to stop the spread of
contagious diseases within a population. Through breeding or exchange
with other Inuit, dogs were quickly replaced. Between 1957 and 1966,
however, a dog disease, thought to be canine distemper, spread across
the entire Baffin Region, possibly due to the increased level of
contact between Inuit and Qallunaat. The RCMP (acting under the
authority of the Animal Diseases Act) attempted to halt the
disease through inoculations and by the pre-emptive slaughter (a term
used here to describe the purpose killings of one or more animals to
stop disease) of dogs that might be infected. In cases where camps
were faced with starvation because dogs had died, the government
provided rations directly to Inuit. In the case of the very severe
epidemic in Cumberland Sound in 1962, the government evacuated Inuit
to the settlement of Pangnirtung. The dog
populations always recovered within a few years after being struck by
disease. The exception to this was the areas where the disease
appeared in the late 1960s and the number of dogs was already
declining due to fewer full-time hunters and the introduction of
snowmobiles. Although these communities still maintained dog teams,
the number of dogs was significantly less than before the arrival of
disease.

A second type of event is the
expected decline in the number of Inuit dogs due to changes in
cultural practices. When Inuit moved into settlements in the 1950s
and 1960s, even before snowmobiles were in widespread use, many or
most Inuit were often unable to successfully combine settlement
living with regular hunting for food for themselves and their dogs.
Fewer full-time hunters meant fewer dog teams. With greater access to
snowmobiles in the late 1960s, many remaining part- and full-time
hunters, especially those living in the permanent settlements,
quickly replaced dog teams with snow machines.

The third type of event concerns
the disappearance or killing of Inuit dog teams owned by Inuit sent
south for healthcare, usually tuberculosis treatment. Some teams were
given to the family members responsible for caring for their
dependents; other teams were killed or unharnessed with the dogs left
to fend for themselves. When an Inuk returned from treatment, he was
often unable to re-establish his dog team and hunt again.

A fourth type of event that led
to reducing the number of Inuit dogs was killing dogs perceived
(primarily by non-Inuit) to be a nuisance or danger to people in
settlements. These killings were consistent with the intentions of
the Ordinance Respecting Dogs, but the requirements set out in
the Ordinance were rarely followed. The Ordinance
was adopted in the Northwest Territories (NWT) in 1928 as a set of
rules designed to dictate dog ownership and respect the rights of dog
owners and farmers in agricultural areas. It was amended and replaced
several times to directly address loose dogs in NWT settlements. The
NWT Ordinance amendments included the addition of the RMCP as
ex officio dog officers in 1950. The Ordinance instituted
standards for dog ownership in settlements and made it possible for
officers to fine owners and to seize and destroy dogs for offenses
under the Ordinance. Before shooting a loose dog or dogs in
harness that were not muzzled or under the control of an adult, an
officer was required to capture the dog, impound it, notify the
owner, provide for the return of the dog if a fine was paid or for
the sale of the dog by auction if the owner failed to claim the dog
within a set number of days. Originally dogs could only be shot
immediately if the officer could not catch the dog. Few communities
within the Baffin Region had adequate dog pounds in the 1950s or
early 1960s. There is no evidence that public auctions were ever
held. For dog officers, shooting dogs was simply easier than chasing
and capturing them. Numerous incidents concerning killing Inuit dogs
have been documented.

To date, QTC researchers have
found documents that demonstrate at least 1,200 dogs were killed in
the Baffin Region during the period under investigation. This number
was arrived at by consulting the archival records. Inuit testimony
about specific incidents of dog killings was not included in this
number. It should be noted that more than 500 of these deaths
occurred in Iqaluit and Pangnirtung between 1966 and 1967.

The fifth type of event concerns
threats and actions to kill Inuit dogs as individual acts of
intimidation by RCMP officers. The RCMP had a limited number of
options available to control Inuit or punish individuals breaking
laws or Qallunaat cultural expectations. Police detachments were few
and small and Inuit traveled in family groups. Threatening to kill
dogs was a particularly easy method to get Inuit to comply with
orders, whether the orders were reasonable or not. Inuit valued their
dogs more than any other possession; Inuit knew RCMP could and did
kill dogs; the RCMP could always use the broad language of the
Ordinance to justify their actions if necessary; and Inuit in
the transition period were faced with a “closed” justice
system that provided no independent method of complaint or appeal
against unreasonable police tactics.

Almost every Inuk witness who
testified before the Commission spoke about the importance of sled
dogs to Inuit identity, culture and survival. They shared memories of
using dogs for hunting and travel between settlements or camps. Many
people also testified about the sudden replacement of dogs by
snowmobiles in the 1960s as a primary means of winter travel. Others
said that they believed and accepted that some dogs needed to be shot
because the dogs were ill or dangerous. Inuit also spoke about the
connections between the loss of dog teams and increasing reliance on
government services and employment. In sum, Inuit believe that the
government was aware of the impact of the loss of dogs on Inuit
culture, health and well-being, but that it did nothing to ease the
situation. They also blamed many of the killings on the level of
ignorance on the part of officials concerning the care and handling
of dogs. Inuit were particularly critical of Qallunaat who had no
knowledge of the impact of chaining dogs on the behaviour of working
animals. Inuit also expressed both frustration and remorse –
frustration that they could not understand why many dogs, especially
those in harness, hiding under homes or those that in their opinion
did not pose a real safety or disease threat were shot; and remorse
that they did not do more to stop the killings.

The documentary records and oral
accounts of government officials, RCMP officers and individuals
working and living in the Baffin Region provide extensive evidence
concerning the role of Inuit dogs in all aspects of Inuit culture and
the changing role of dogs and hunting in the economic structure of
the Baffin Region. In the 1950s and most of the 1960s, everyone –
Inuit, RCMP, medical staff, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) staff,
teachers and missionaries – relied on dogs to travel between
settlements. During this same period, however, the importance of
hunting for food and trading was declining and the government was
quickly shifting its assumptions about the future of the region and
its people.

RCMP records, NWT Debates,
newspaper articles and memoires directly document many incidents
concerning killing of dogs perceived to be either a nuisance or a
threat and some incidents concerning dogs killed as a warning to
Inuit to leave settlements in favour of traditional life on the land.
Many specific incidents are included in the RCMP’s own report,
The RCMP and the Inuit Sled Dogs (Nunavut and Northern Quebec:
1950-1970). The records also show that dog officers rarely
followed the rules of the Ordinance, but also that it was very
difficult for them to follow a set of rules designed for a southern
rural, rather than Arctic, environment.

Government records, police
patrol reports, scholarly research, newspaper and magazines articles
from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s show that dogs were killed in the
Baffin Region often without due regard for the safety of and
consequences on Inuit families and because Qallunaat were scared of
dogs. Dog officers rarely followed the rules of the Ordinance.
The details of these shootings in historical documentary evidence –
dogs being shot near houses, at the dump or while tied –
consistently support the testimony given by Inuit to the Commission.
In 1958, for example, an anthropologist hired by the federal
government conducted interviews with Inuit in what was then Frobisher
Bay (now Iqaluit) about housing, nutrition, marriage, etc. He
included a question about killing dogs. One of the people interviewed
in 1959 said that RCMP officers were killing dogs under and between
homes and expressed concern that children might get hurt. Perhaps in
a moment of dark humour, he also wondered if Inuit might be the next
targets.

Every type of event considered
in this report is well-documented in either government records or in
memoirs and oral histories of RCMP officers, Inuit and individuals
who lived in the Baffin Region or studied its conditions. The records
document the decline in the population of dogs and in the dramatic
change in hunting practices that coincided with the move to
settlements, the importance of snowmobiles and the growth in
wage-based employment.